Entries tagged with: Here We Go Magic

Black Book: What are you looking forward to the most about this particular tour? Any cities you're hitting for the first time?

Yeah! It's funny; the majority of the U.S. cities are ones we haven't played, or have only played once. The routing is really interesting. There are three shows in Florida, which is really unheard of. You never hear of small-budget rock music playing Florida, you know? (Laughs) It's sort of a coup. There are a lot of dates in the South, and I think as far as Europe is concerned, we actually wound up having to cancel several dates this August. I'm looking forward to making up some of those and getting back to where we left off.

Here We Go Magic kicked off their fall tour with a free NYC show at Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday (9/18) with High Highs. The tour, in support of the A Different Ship LP, has expanded considerably since we last wrote about it, heading north to New England and beyond in the coming days, including dates from coast to coast and on to Europe, stretching into middle November. All dates are listed below, along with more pictures from Brooklyn Bowl.

West Coast janglers Craft Spells are heading East next month to play Cincinatti's Midpoint Music Festival (September 27 - 29) which also features the likes of Grizzly Bear, The Walkmen, Dirty Projectors, Sleigh Bells and many more. Tickets for the fest are still available and the whole line-up is at the bottom of this post.

Before the festival, Craft Spells will be in NYC for a show at Glasslands on September 24 with new new romantics Ice Choir. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Brooklyn's Here We Go Magic have been touring in support of their new album, A Different Ship this year. They've already squeezed two hometown shows and they've just announced another one which will go down on September 18 at Brooklyn Bowl. It's a free 'Denim & Supply' show with RSVP or $5 at the door. All HWGM dates are listed below.

As mentioned, there will also be a free 'Denim & Supply' this month on August 31 at Brooklyn Bowl with Hospitality and ARMS. RSVP is open, or you can pay $5 at the door.

A list of all Here We Go Magic dates and the video for "How Do I Know" off of their new album are below.

Here We Go Magic are currently on a tour which brought them to Brooklyn for a hometown show at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night (7/19) with fellow Brooklynite/Yeasayer drummerSinkane. If you went, how was the show?

If you didn't make it, you'll get another chance to catch Here We Go Magic and SInkane in Brooklyn TONIGHT (7/20) at Cameo Gallery. Tickets for tonight's show are on sale now.

A list of updated dates and another instagram from last night's show are below...

Bon Iver recorded an iTunes session at East West studios which is available exclusively from iTunes starting today. It includes six tracks off 2011's great Bon Iver, Bon Iver and a cover of Bjork's "Who Is It?," which the band has played live many times. You can stream the session's opening track, "Beth/Rest" below.

As mentioned, Bon Iver is touring internationally throughout the summer and fall and will come to NYC on September 19 and 20 at Radio City Music Hall. Both of those shows are now sold out. All Bon Iver dates, including a recently announced European leg, are listed below.

Speaking of Bjork, she's teaming up with the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Children's Museum of Manhattan to create interactive educational programs for middle school-aged students based on her Biophilia app. Speaking about the program, Bjork said:

"It's not a bookish thing. You cannot learn to make music from a book." "I love books; they're like the best ever," she added. "There are things you can only learn from books, but it's also important to introduce the physical aspects. So for me, it was very important to make, somehow, music education that was physical." (via NY Daily News)

Both Bon Iver and Bjork are set to play Oya Festival in Oslo, Norway this summer (Aug 7-11) with The Stone Roses, Refused, The Afghan Whigs, Bob Mould (performing Copper Blue), Chromatics, Cloud Nothings, John Maus, Purity Ring, Saint Etienne, SBTRKT, Screaming Females, St. Vincent, and more. Full list below.

Way Out West (Aug 9-11) in Gothenberg, Sweden features many of the same bands as Oya like Bon Iver, Refused, Afghan Whigs, St. Vincent, Purity Ring, John Maus, and Bob Mould in addition to Blur, Wilco, I Break Horses, Hot Chip, The War On Drugs, Mark Lanegan Band, Adolescents, Swans, and more. Check out the spotify playlist. The full lineup is listed below.

As mentioned, the reunited Mazzy Star is set to play both of those European festivals. Full lineups and the Bon Iver dates and song, below...

Brooklyn's Here We Go Magic released their new LP, A Different Ship, last month via Secretly Canadian. The band have been on a tour in support of the album which brings them to Austin tonight, their last North American show before heading overseas later this month. When they return, they'll play a hometown show on July 19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that show go on sale Wednesday (6/20) at noon.

Brooklyn's TEEN formed about a year and a half ago, started by Katherine Lieberson (aka Teeny) who used to be in Here We Go Magic, and her sister Lizzie plus pal Jane Herships. The band, expanded since, released the Doodz EP online last year and have now signed with Carpark who will release their debut album, In Limbo, this fall.

The album was mixed by Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 and while there are bits of the Velvet Underground (and their descendants) as well as nods to girl group pop and post punk to be heard, though those descriptors don't do them justice. (Neither does their name.) In Limbo genuinely has it's own thing going and sound sound quite like anything else at the moment. You can download opening track "Better" at the top of this post and stream it at the bottom of this post. There's a video for the song -- repurposed from Kevin Bacon's cheesy '80s bike flick Quicksilver -- which you can watch at the bottom of this post, along with a video for another album track, "Roses and Wine," as well.

Here are some more photos from the Sasquatch Music Festival which happened over Memorial Day Weekend out in Gorge, WA, truly one of the most awesome backdrops in all of festivaldom. These are from Sunday (May 27) which was another jam-packed line-up so we're breaking them up into two parts. Below we've got pics of Beirut, Wild Flag, M. Ward, The Head and the Heart, Here We Go Magic, We Are Augustines and more. Pictures of Friday (5/25) are here and Saturday (5/26) are here and here. And...more Sasquatch pictures to come.

Hope you all survived Record Store Day. I didn't find most of what I was looking for (most of which was UK only) but I did get that great Lee Hazlewood comp on Light in the Attic. Hope you found what you wanted the most. Lots of good stuff this week, so let's get into it.

Allo Darlin's second LP, Europe, came out last week to pretty much across-the-board acclaim. It's a little more melancholy than the band's debut, with a lot less ukulele this time out. Maybe that seems like a good thing, but I must say I miss the exuberance of Allo Darlin's debut. The more subdued nature of the songs and production make it sound like a Camera Obscura album much of the time, a comparison I would've never made before. But Elizabeth Morris' songwriting and voice are still in fine form, it's all just a little more "mature."

You can stream Allo Darlin's Europe at the bottom of this post. I'm sure one thing that hasn't changed is Allo Darlin's ability to charm in the live setting.

The Wave Pictures

The same goes for The Wave Pictures who I will always go see live even if I'm not so crazy about the album they're touring to support. Not that they change so much from record to record. Their new album, Long Black Cars, is pretty good (listen at Spotify) I think but much like the rest: Dave Tattersall spins fascinating, funny stories with a singsong delivery. Most of their albums sound like they were recorded live, but it always comes off a million times more compelling when you actually see them play. Tattersall is also one of the funniest between-song banterers of our age. Also funny: the Darren Hayman-directed video for their song "Spaghetti" which you can watch below.

The new album has an interesting birth. Stuck playing a pre-noon set at Glastonbury 2010, the groggy band were playing to a groggy crowd, none of whom seemed to be having any fun. Except for two guys dancing right up front, who turned out to be Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich. The band met Yorke and Godrich after their set and Godrich turned up at more European shows... and ended up producing Different Ships. This is the bands first album that didn't start with Luke Temple doing demos on his own, and with the band incorporated from the beginning (and working in Godrich's studio). While still boyant and dreamy, Different Ships feels a little bigger, a little more fully formed than the previous two. You can stream "Make Up Your Mind" at the bottom of this post as well stream new single "How Do I Know?" at Secretly Canadian's SoundCloud page.

And finally, while Feelies shows have become less rare since the band actually made a new album, but any chance to see one of the most influential NYC-area bands of the last 30 years is one you shouldn't pass up. And you have that chanceon Friday (4/27) at the Bell House. While bands from Luna (who had the Feelies' Stanley Demeski on drums at the beginnning) to The Strokes have taken from them, there's no substitute for that Bill Million/Glen Mercer guitar interplay that still sounds like magic.

You can listen to the Feelies' terrific album from last year, Here Before, as well as some of their classic ones, at Spotify. The Feelies also play Saturday (4/28) at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY if you're up that way and a few more scheduled dates throughout the summer which are further down this post.

That's the big stuff this week. Day-by-day picks of things not covered above, are below.

Diehard

TUESDAY, APRIL 24

Diehard are at Union Hall tonight with Everest, Benjamin Cartel (of Kaiser Cartel) and Resistor. Diehard just released a video for their theme songwhich you can watch below. It's from last year's The Times We Didn't Have Fun which you can download for free from Bandcamp. Diehard also play Saturday (4/28) at the Rock Bar in the west, West Village.

One of the coolest cats around, Nick Lowe is at at Town Hall with nearly 40 years worth of amazing songs in his arsenal. Last year's The Old Magic was another winner from the Basher and you can stream it at Spotify and watch the comedy star-studded video for "Sensitive Man" below.

Sacramento's astral trio Sister Crayon wrap up their Pianos residency tonight with support from Megafortress, New Moods and Tygerstrype. Stay late for a free show from Japanese rockers ZZZ's.

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Radiohead, Beach Boys, Phish, Little Dragon, SBTRKT, The Antlers, Bad Brains, Laura Marling, St. Vinent, Tune-Yards, Flying Lotus, and many more are playing Bonnaroo this year. Full list below...

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

The Sasquatch! Music Festival takes place, as usual, at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington over Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28). And this year's lineup is:

Maybe it will even be at the merch table two days early, when Diamond Rings plays with Porcelain Raft at Europa on June 19th as part of the Northside Festival. Tickets for the Brooklyn show are on sale, or you can try to get in with a Northside badge.

Porcelain Raft meanwhile plays a show with Here We Go Magic at Mercury Lounge on May 14th. Tickets are on sale for that, and NT and Bizi Gara are both also on the bill. For HWGM it's one of many May tour dates they have scheduled.

The show is one of two upcoming dates for Here We Go Magic, who have also scheduled a secret show in Philadelphia, PA at an undisclosed location on 1/22 with NIGHTLANDS, Ape School, and Norwegian Arms. Keep your eyes on the Facebook invite.

Close to a year ago, Here We Go Magic presented themselves as a newly formed quintet, a group constructed around the layered songwriting and folk sensibilities of musician Luke Temple. While the band had a strong head start with Temple's solo album, the eponymous Here We Go Magic, when they arrived at Music Hall of Williamsburg in January to play a headlining gig, the audience's expectations derived solely from the album's representation of a collective sound. Now, after extensively touring behind Here We Go Magic's second album, Pigeons (though it is technically their first as a fully realized band), their listeners are familiar with the cast rather than just the director. And, on Wednesday night at The Bowery Ballroom, Temple and Co. returned to New York City with an expanded collection of songs and a reformed sense of self. [Playtonic Dialogues]

The Love Language have no NYC dates in the near future, though they also played Maxwell's last night and you can catch them at Toad's Place in CT tonight (10/15). The Raleigh band will skip around the East Coast in the coming weeks, including a couple of dates with Jenny & Johnny who play NYC on 10/19 as part of CMJ with the now-updated lineup of La Sera, Happy Birthday, Times New Viking, and Wild Nothing (but not the Love Language). Tickets are still on sale or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge. .

More pictures from Bowery Ballroom, with a video of The Love Language, setlists and dates, below...

We never meant to make you angry but we've received dozens of emails over the past few weeks asking us why we were ignoring the east coast. For a variety of reasons we had to keep our mouths shut, but we will no longer be silenced! This Saturday October 16th, our winter tour goes on sale and we're gonna get to a bunch of places we've been meaning to get for awhile. - Dr. Dog

Hold your horses, people! Though maybe it wasn't New Yorkers complaining because Dr. Dog played NYC twice in the past two months (although one was open to NYU students only). The band will hit the road for a string of East Coast dates in the new year, including Terminal 5 on 2/18 with The Head and the Heart who will open all shows on that leg of the tour. Tickets for the NYC show are currently on AMEX presale, and go on regular sale at noon on Friday (10/15). All dates below.

In addition, Dr Dog want to "make amends" by offering a new song for free download. Grab "Nobody Know Who You Are" above. The track is part of a four song tour double 7" that will also surface on iTunes in the following weeks. One of the other three songs available on that 7", "Take Me Into Town", is also available to stream below.

Now that East-coasters have cooled their jets a bit, remember that Dr. Dog will show love to the rest of the country over the next few months as part of a US tour with Here We Go Magic. But before Here We Go Magic head out with Dr Dog, the band will play Bowery Ballroom TONIGHT (10/13) with The Love Language (Merge Records) and Delicate Steve (who just signed to Luaka Bop). Tickets are still available.

Delicate Steve also has some CMJ shows and will head out on tour with Fang Island in November. All dates below.

In other Dr. Dog related news, Juston Stens & the Get Real Gang featuring ex-Dr. Dog drummer Juston Stens plays TONIGHT at Pianos, one of three shows in the NYC area as the band will be back at Pianos two weeks later (on 10/27) and will play Littlefield as part of the Park The Van showcase on 10/22. There the band will be joined by headliner David Vandervelde, in addition to Generationals, Brass Bed, Giant Cloud, From A Fountain, and Young Nick Krill (of The Spinto Band). Tickets are on sale, or use your CMJ badge.

All tour dates and that Dr. Dog stream, and the new videos for "Shadow People", below.

The above downloadable HWGM remix was done by Philadelphia's Sun Airway whose album Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier will be released by Dead Oceans on October 26th (that makes Sun Airway and HWGM label cousins). A track from that album is up there too.

Sun Airway open for BRAHMS and Class Actress at Mercury Lounge on Thursday, August 19th. Tickets are on sale.

HWGM's last NYC show was an 826NYC benefit at Coco66 with Chuck Klosterman. The next show in that "one band + one author" series happens this Thursday night, August 19th, and features a full electric set by Phosphorescent (who are now label-mates with Sun Airway). The author speaking at that show is Sloane Crosley. Tickets are on sale.

Dr. Dog singer-guitar player Scott McMicken has a solo show coming up at the Rock Shop on Sunday, August 22nd. Tickets are on sale. That's actually one of three solo dates he has planned with Springs, which is the musical name of Brooklyn's Mike Visser. Mike recorded a song with Scott as part of the Shaking Through Series, and a video of that is below. Springs also has a show with Sharon Van Etten at the Bushwick Starr on August 7th and a July 30th show at Arlene's Grocery.

Also coming up are some shows by Dr. Dog-related band Juston Stens & the Get Real Gang, the project of Dr. Dog's ex-drummer Juston Stens. Juston plays with TV Torso and Slow Animal at Death By Audio on August 25th, and then with ARMS and TV Torso at Mercury Lounge on Friday, August 27th. Tickets are on sale for the Manhattan show.

All tour dates, and video of Dr. Dog playing their single "Shadow People" on Craig Ferguson on July 2nd, are below...

Record release shows are typically festive events, but the fanfare was rather minimal for Tuesday night's Here We Go Magicshow at the Music Hall of Williamsburg - with the possible exception of Luke Temple's festive red Hawaiian shirt.

When the first opener of the evening, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, unceremoniously walked on stage and started playing, the room was nearly empty, but since the show was piped down into the basement bar, people gradually began filtering upstairs as they realized that the show had begun. Despite the growing number of listeners, however, MBAR's energy level changed very little throughout his performance. His occasional stage banter (if you can call it that) seemed to be delivered, tight-lipped, through a smirk as if he didn't care whether he was intelligible or not.

Robinson often performs with a backing band, but for last night's performance (perhaps because he was a late addition to the bill), he was solo. With the exception of the final song, the majority of Robinson's set contained just a keyboard and pre-programmed beats. For his last song, Robinson juggled both the guitar and the keyboard, saying under his breath at the song's conclusion, "I guess I should have tuned my guitar before the song and not during it."

Hearing Robinson live is nothing like hearing his albums (his first was produced by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor, and his second, by TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone.) Take it or leave it (and some people will definitely leave it), Robinson is an intriguing musical enigma who already has something of a fabled past.

It's hard to tell if he takes himself too seriously or if he is overly cynical and sarcastically self-aware. He performed in one of the t-shirts he sold at the merch table, which says, in big black block letters, "MILES BENJAMIN ANTHONY ROBINSON IS DEAD," and he performed a cover of the Hall and Oates song "Rich Girl" midway through his set.

Next up was The War on Drugs, who put on an enjoyable enough set despite some minor feedback issues. With their rock and roll hair, jangly guitar riffs, soaring keyboard melodies, and fuzzed out lyrics, it's easy to get lost in the Philly three-piece's music. As with the first opener, the War on Drugs' vocals were largely indecipherable, but to be fair, that did not seem to be the focal point of their music. They jammed for a solid two minutes before singing at all at the top of their set.

"After 12 years America got its first taste of Truck at a resort in the Catskills about three hours outside of New York City. A more modest affair in size and lineup than the forthcoming Truck in Steventon this July, the Full Moon resort was perfectly situated for the comparatively small event.

The entire weekend made for a remarkably relaxed experience. While the weather in the Catskills in early May is usually akin to that of Oxfordshire in the summer, the days were unseasonably warm and the nights crisp, making sitting in an unheated converted barn after midnight a pleasant experience." [Clash]

Alexandra Marvar, who performed at British Truck festival offshoot TRUCK AMERICAthis past weekend with the Mercury Rev orchestra, and with Common Prayer, reviews the fest's highlights with accompanying pictures. Check it out below...

Truck America is a 3day festival (april 30-may 2) held up in the catskill mountains @ the full moon resort in big indian, ny. the truck family has been putting on festivals and gatherings in the UK for the past 13 years and have just made the jump to the american market. mercury rev (with a full orchestra), white rabbits, here we go magic, ida, the joy formidable and neil halstead are just a few of the confirmed live performances. in addition to lots of live music, they're also going to have handfuls of workshops, kids activities and late night campfire singalongs. weekend pass is only $120 and includes 3 nights of campsite access and parking (day tickets also available). if camping isn't your thing, accommodations are also available at the resort as well as meal packages.

Before then there are a pair of "warm up shows" happening in NYC. The first is tonight (4/21) at The Bell House and features all bands also playing the festival: Atlantic/Pacific (ex-Texas is the Reason), Dusty & The Dreaming Spires (Robin & Joe from Goldrush/Truck), Oxygen Ponies and Cat Martino. The second happens April 26th at Matchless, with The Caulfield Sisters and the Truck Family All Stars (members of Common Prayer, Dusty & The Dreaming Spires & Hopewell).

Sixties-style rockers The Sadies will be one of the bands at Truck America. They also have a new album, Darker Circles, out May 18th at Yep Roc. Their tour dates take them across Canada and down the West Coast, where they play a few shows with Kurt Vile. Back east, Vile plays a release show for his new 12" EP Square Shells, which comes out at the end of May on Matador, at Union Pool on June 18th. Joining him will be Meg Baird and Mad Scene.

""Thank you very much," the frontman Luke Temple told the [SXSW] crowd. "We're Here We Go Magic, and you are all very beautiful." So was the music, a series of crescendos that rose and fell like waves crashing onto a reef. But the music had more of a rhythmic pulse than most psychedelia, underpinning hypnotic keyboard drones with tribal drums in a swirling maze of sound you could get lost in. The group's next album, due out this summer, should be a show-stopper." [NY Times]

"Pigeons, set for release on Secretly Canadian on June 8th, is an entirely self-produced album, recorded by Here We Go Magic over four months living together in late Summer and Fall of 2009." "Collector," a track from the LP that they've been playing live (they did a great version of it at the BV SXSW show for example), is available as a free download above.

Modest Mouse will be reissuing their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, on Record Store Day - this Saturday, April 17th. "The album features restored original artwork and replicates the infinite lock groove found in the original vinyl pressings of 2000. The new vinyl reissue includes a download card for the album." All dates the the P4K Fest lineup, below...

"Not sure about the recorded stuff, but, live, Here We Go Magic's sound made for an enjoyable listen. It was rocky, bouncy, and sometimes outright dancey--but with enough complex time changes thrown in to keep listeners off-guard and from getting too comfortable in one place...

...The Middle East very much lived up to the hype it had earned at last weekend's NX35 conferette in Denton, where it went from a relative unknown to a much-buzzed-about-Denton act. This Austin crowd seemed relatively unfamiliar with the act as well--but also was eventually won over. Gorgeous stuff, indeed, if a little too mellow and unvaried." [Dallas Observer]